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(No Model.)

J. W. HEATON. I MACHINE FOR TONGUING AND GROOVING LUMBER.

No. 600,785 Patented Mar. 15,1898.

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JOHN W. IIEATON, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR OF THREE- FOURTHS TO CAROLINE A. I'IEATON, SAMUEL STEPHENS, AND ALEX- ANDER O. AYRES, OF SAME PLACE.

MACHINE FOR TONGUING AND GROOVIN G LUMBER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 600,785, dated March 15, 1898. Application filed April 6, 1897. Serial No. 630,910. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN W. HEATON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Tonguing and Grooving Lumber, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my said invention is especially to produce a machine by which tongues and grooves can be successfully formed on very thin lumber; and it consists in certain details of construction and arrangements of parts in and about the cutter-heads of the machine, as will be hereinafter more particularly described and claimed.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which are made a part hereof and on which similar letters and numerals of reference indicate similar parts, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the rear end of a suitable machine for the purpose provided with cutter-heads and bearings embodying my present-invention; Fig. 2,- a sectional view longitudinally of the machine alongside one of the cutter-heads and its spindle; Fig. 3, a sectional view taken transversely of the machine, showing the upper ends of both spindles and their cutterheads, one being in section and the other in elevation; Fig. 4:, a plan View of substantially the same parts shown in Fig. 3; and Figs. 5 and 6, views, on an enlarged scale, of lumber on which the tongues and grooves have been cut in my machine.

The machine as a whole may be briefly described as follows:

Two rods A and A are mounted in the frame A and carry the hangers B, in which the spindles O of the cutter-heads are mounted. The hangers develop into hollow blocks, which extend beneath the cutter-heads and serve to substantially fill the space which Would otherwise exist in the machine-table. A screw-rod A also mounted in the frame A, is used to adjust the hangers, and with them the spindles and cutter-heads, toward or from each other and give them the position desired.

The cutter-heads are composed of several saws or toothed plates, as best shown in Figs.

2 and 8, two forms being shown, so that the I or wood carpeting, which, as is well known,

is very thin, and consequently it has been difficult to make an efficient and durable cutter-head, the groove-cutting portion of which should be sufficiently thin to cut the required groove and at the same time sufficiently strong and rigid and capable of the required adj ustments. By using three toothed plates or saws 1, 2, and 3, as shown atthe left in Fig. 3, the central one may be as thin as required and may be changed from time to time as it is desired to change the thickness,while the outer ones may be thick enough to firmly support said inner one and at the same time do their share of the cutting. In the form shown at the right in Fig. 3 a cutter-head formed of fourplates 1, 2, 3, and 4 is shown. This is for the purpose of forming a scarf on the under side at one edge of the lumber, as shown in Fig. 5, for the purpose of receiving the horizontal portions of certain anchors or fasteners which are the subject of another invention. As before, the inner saws are of exactly the thickness of cut desired, while the outer ones are thick enough to firmly support the thin inner ones. These cutter-heads as a whole are mounted on screw-threaded por tions of the spindle 0, being held to the desired adjusted positions thereon by means of the lock-nuts n n a 71 By this means an extremely accurate adjustment of the cutterheads is provided for without the necessity of disturbing the spindles in their bearings.

In fine small work, such as this machineis designed to operate upon, it is of great importance that exact accuracy of Width shall be preserved and that there shall therefore be no tremble or swinging of the spindles. 100

I have therefore provided a bridge-tree D, which extends across the machine and in which are mounted bearings E, which carry the upper ends of the spindles. The bridgetree, as best shown in Fig. 4, is slitted throughout its central portion, so that the bearings may be conveniently adjusted thereon, and said bearings, as best shown in Fig. 2, are clamped onto said bridge-tree by bolts 6 and clamp-bars E. By loosening the nuts on these bolts e the bearings E can obviously be adjusted to any point desired and there firmly secured.

Having thus fully described my said invention,what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, in a tonguing and grooving machine, of a suitable frame, rods extending across said frame beneath its table one above the other, hangers each formed with connections by which they are mounted to slide on both of said rods, the upper ends of said hangers being developed into hollow blocks which extend up into an opening in the table beneath the cutter-heads, means for adjusting said hangers on said rods, bearings formed in each of said hangers, spindles mounted in said bearings,cutter-heads mounted on said spindles, the upper ends of said spindles being mounted in adjustable bearings on a bridge-tree above said cutter-heads, and means for securing and adjusting said parts, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination,in a machine for tonguing and grooving lumber, of the frame, the transversely-adjustable hangers formed with vertical bearings mountedin said frame, spindles with screw-threaded upper ends mounted in said bearings, cutter-heads consisting of saws or toothed plates of diiferent diameters placed face to face and rigidly clamped and secured together the outside plates being of sufficient rigidity to support the inner JOHN W. HEATON.

Witnesses:

CHESTER BRADFORD, JAMES A. WALSH. 

